Utopia

Reading Thomas More's Utopia reminded me of Utopia & Dystopia themed stories like The Giver by Lois Lowry, Uglies by Scott Westerfeld, and Feed by M.T. Anderson. Each of these stories involve seemingly perfect worlds with a couple of major flaws, such as the extermination of children and adults who are flawed and don't have the same work abilities as the others inThe Giver, The governing businesses deciding if a person can have the computer chip in their heads fixed or letting the person die in Feed, and making everyone have cosmetic surgery to be made gorgeous while lowering their brain cells in Uglies.

In each world, there are good and bad consequences which affect the lives of their citizens. Utopian societies don't quite work as a perfect world, because not all the people are considered equal, such as "the slaves" or "the weaker sex" mentioned in Thomas More's version. More power is given to chosen people and the whole point of a world where everyone is considered equal is to give everyone the same exact rights and responsibilities.

With all its flaws, this utopian society has a couple of good qualities, like allowing their citizens to "withdraw their time and energy from the service of the body and devote themselves to the freedom and culture of the mind" and "the second rule of nature is to lead a life as free of anxiety and as full of joy as possible, and to help all one's fellow men toward that end." However, can anyone have peace when someone is always watching them in order to make sure they are following all the society rules?